It Could've Been Worse
by N17E2000
Summary: One shot. Krillin gets really drunk. Marron always knew her parents' relationships with their friends was a little unorthodox, but this is not what she expected.[Format has been corrected]


Krillin stumbled into the thankfully empty little pink house on Kame Island, his wife and daughter following him with amused smiles on their faces. He was drunk, but not drunk enough.

Zigzagging into the kitchen, Krillin opened a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. He'd never drunk whiskey before Eighteen had come into his life, but she seemed to enjoy the burning sensation even though she couldn't get drunk off it, and so now Krillin drank it too. Moving a few steps over, he waved a hand ineffectually at the handle of the overhead cabinet that was just out of his reach. Fortunately, Eighteen came up behind him, reaching over his head and pulling out two small glasses.

Wordlessly, Krillin tumbled into a chair and leaned heavily against the kitchen table as his wife poured out a couple of shots. Marron was already seated, still smiling at her father.

"Daddy…"

"Shhhh," Krillin said, raising a shaky finger to his lips. "No."

"This is all your fault you know," Eighteen smirked at her daughter. Krillin groaned loudly into his glass. "I'm related to Vegeta now!" he cried, his voice breaking with despair.

The small family had just returned from another one of Bulma Briefs' infamous parties, only this one was being held to celebrate the official engagement of Marron and Trunks. Just the thought gave Krillin an overwhelming sense of dread.

Not that he had anything against Trunks. He actually really liked him. Krillin was not one to hold a person's genes and upbringing against them, and Trunks was a good kid in spite of it all. He and Marron had been together for several years now, and Krillin would be the first to say that the childhood friends were perfect for each other. Marron was one of a very small group of people that wasn't interested in Trunks for his money or connections, and she knew all about his crazy family and the violent shenanigans they got up to. He was one of a small group of people that could fly alongside her and that didn't ask awkward questions about why her mother never aged or changed or how Master Roshi was related to her. She was irreverent and laid-back where he was serious and pensive; he was confident and determined when she was indecisive and scared.

So it wasn't like Krillin hadn't seen this coming. Heck, he'd rooted for it! Trunks made Marron happy, and at the end of the day that's all that really mattered to the former fighter.

But the full implications of his daughter's relationship had only hit him at the engagement party, when he'd suddenly realized that this, from now on, would be his _life_ , that Bulma and Vegeta's drama was going to officially become his drama, that he would share _grandchildren_ with those two angry nutcases, spend holidays with them in this house – not that they didn't spend holidays here anyway, but still, at least he could convince himself that he was there by choice, but now...

 _Still though_ , he'd thought to himself, _Marron's happy, and that's all that counts._ He'd turned to look at his beautiful daughter, her dark eyes shining and strands of blonde hair blowing in the cool summer breeze, smiling at her handsome fiancé, and knew in that moment that he would walk over burning coals to keep that smile on her face.

Then Vegeta had walked over to the couple, congratulating them gruffly on their union, when Marron had launched herself at the shocked Saiyan Prince, squeezing him in a bear hug and loudly proclaiming, "Thank you Dad! I love you!"

Krillin had literally run to the bar.

He'd been joined not long after that by a shaken Vegeta, and the two men had carefully avoided eye contact as they shot back drink after drink.

Finally, _finally_ , Marron had had mercy on them all and reluctantly pried herself away from lavender-haired love to join her parents in their hovercar and back to the little pink house she'd grown up in.

And now Krillin was in an alcohol-induced pit of despair that he was convinced he could only crawl out of using more alcohol. So far this theory had not proved correct, but Krillin was not one to give up that easily.

"I don't deserve this," Krillin said after his second shot. "I really don't. I've been a good man," he turned to his wife, "right? I've been good!"

He glared at his daughter's smiling face. "Do you know what I've been through? Everything I've seen? How many times I've _died_?"

"So this can't be that bad in comparison," Marron pointed out, her elbows propped on the table, cheeks resting in her hands.

"Just when I think things can't get any weirder, they do!" Krillin wailed, throwing his hands in the air and ignoring his daughter's comment. "You know," he continued, not addressing anyone in particular, "there was a time when I thought the weirdest thing I would ever see was Goku's tail.

"Man," Krillin laughed, staring at a point right over Eighteen's shoulder, lost in thought, "that thing was so weird! You know," he met his wife's eyes now, "we cut it off and it just grew right back! Can you believe that? I don't think even monkeys have tails like that!"

Krillin let his head fall into his hand, his eyes rolling up. "Ah man, that guy," he took another shot, "I love him so much, but he really ruined my life. Ever since I met him, things have just gotten weirder and weirder."

"So what's the weirdest thing you've seen now Daddy?" Marron asked, interested in this side of her father.

Krillin sighed deeply. God, where could he even start? The dragonballs, Shenron's terrifying form emerging against a darkened sky, Namek and basically everything that had happened on it, Frieza, Frieza transforming, Frieza transforming _again,_ and then _again,_ until Krillin was sure that none of it was real and that he was in fact trapped in a terrible nightmare because nothing could be so relentlessly horrifying in real life.

Dying. Dying had been – man, it had been something. It wasn't _bad_ , all things considered. The first time had been pretty mild actually. But the second time…

He could see King Yemma's large face glaring down at him. "Krillin eh? You look familiar!"

"I've been here before," he'd squeaked, shaking a little in the Saiyan battle gear he'd died in.

"Before!" King Yemma boomed. "Well! There's something I don't see every day!"

"Heh."

And then he'd died a third time, and King Yemma had laughed, actually laughed, when he saw Krillin again. "Well hello there Krillin! Back again huh? How've you been?"

"Oh you know, good I guess."

"I like your hair."

"Heh, thanks."

It was really too much for a mortal man to have a one-on-one relationship with the judge of souls. And the worst part was that inevitably, he would have to see him again. Krillin shuddered.

But was dying really the strangest thing? What about Cell? Cell was _weird_. Watching Cell _spit out Eighteen_ , that was bizarre. Krillin still had nightmares about that, Gohan in his Super Saiyan form punching Cell so hard he actually vomited out a person. Gohan, man. The fact that the little boy who'd gone with him to Namek was the strongest being in the universe was in itself bizarre. It seemed like just yesterday he was a scared little boy in a colorful tunic and dragonball hat, hiding behind his father's leg on Kame Island. He'd grown up so much, had been through so much. That poor sweet kid…

Tears began to form in Krillin's eyes.

"Daddy?"

"Gohan…"

"Gohan?" Marron said incredulously. "Gohan's the weirdest thing you've seen?"

But Krillin had forgotten the topic of conversation. "He's such a great kid."

"He is," Eighteen agreed quietly.

"Why couldn't you marry Gohan?!" Krillin wailed.

"Dad!" Marron squirmed in her seat. "That's so weird! He's like my brother! And he's old. And _married_."

Krillin slumped forward. "Ugh…what about Goten?" Krillin didn't wait for his daughter to respond to that; Goten and Marron had always been close, but it was the closeness of siblings. Besides, Bra had had Goten wrapped around her little finger for years. "But no, no, you had to go and make me related to Vegeta, of all people! You know I was going to kill him once?"

"Huh?!" The 24-year-old raised her eyebrows in shock. She knew her parents' posse had not started out on friendly terms and that her parents had in fact met while her mother was on a mission to kill the man she knew as Uncle Goku, but this was a detail she hadn't heard.

"We had some good times with your future father-in-law," her mother said with a smirk.

"Oh man," Krillin shook his head. "I'll never forget that time you broke his arm…"

"WHAT?!"

Eighteen snorted.

"…when Trunks came from the future and he was all like 'The Androids are going to kill us all!' and then Cell came and it all went to hell." Krillin paused. "You know he went back and killed you in his timeline?!" He turned to his daughter, pointing an accusing finger, "Your boyfriend killed your mother! And you're going to marry him!"

"Marron's eyes were wide with shock now, her jaw practically hitting the table. "Wha…what…"

"It's okay Krillin,"

"It's not okay!" Krillin had never been this drunk and was rapidly approaching the hysterical stage. "You killed Vegeta and then Trunks killed you and now we all have to sit together and hold hands…"

"Alright, time to go to bed," Eighteen said as she got up, pulling her heavily intoxicated husband along with her before he traumatized their daughter permanently. He stumbled as he got up, waving his glass around and ranting, still, about who'd killed who and who'd done what to which.

As her parents made their way up the stairs to their bedroom, Marron grabbed the whisky bottle and her mother's empty glass and quickly downed two shots. That had been _way_ more than she'd bargained for.

A few minutes later her mother returned. "I hope you're happy."

Marron frowned. "I was _trying_ to freak out Uncle Vegeta, not Daddy! I thought it would be funny to see the look on his face! I had no idea Dad would react this way. What the hell was that all about anyway?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"…No."

Eighteen leaned against the kitchen counter, smiling at her daughter. "Congratulations."

"Thanks." Marron paused. "You guys like Trunks, right?"

"Yes," Eighteen sighed, "we like Trunks. Both of us." She filled a glass with water and prepared to go back up to her husband. "Goodnight sweetheart."

"Did you really break Uncle Vegeta's arm?"

Eighteen gave her daughter a weary look. "Marron, your Uncle Vegeta is kind of an ass." With that, she turned and left the room.

Marron slumped into her chair, sighing heavily. _Well_ , she thought, _that had been pretty awful. But given the people involved, it could've been worse._


End file.
